Featured Club / Dojo - Kashiwa Junior Sumo Club

[mikawa 1,794]

Champions of Japan

Location - Kashiwa Central Sports Center Sumo Ground (柏市中央体育館), Kashiwa, Chiba
Keiko - Saturdays (9:30am - 1pm), Sundays (9:30am - 1pm)

Situated at the side of the Furusato Bridge (ふるさと大橋) in Kashiwa City, the relatively young Kashiwa Junior Sumo Club (柏相撲少年団) was founded in 1989, right at the start of the Heisei era, and are now one of the biggest clubs in the country. By winning the 14th National Club Championships last month, they are now officially the best sumo club in Japan.

Like some of the other clubs that have been featured so far, Kashiwa have their own blog, Yoshida-ya. However, Kashiwa Junior Sumo Club actually go further than that, as they also have their own Twitter account, as well as their own Facebook page. Their coach, Nagai Akiyoshi (永井 明慶), also teaches sumo at Nippon Sport Science University Kashiwa High School, which is Byambasuren and Okutomi Yuka's sumo club.

 

Kashiwa Junior Sumo Club host two annual competitions for clubs from around the Kanto region - the Junior Sumo Kashiwa Tournament and the Kashiwa Sumo Exchange Tournament, the latter of which also acts as a joint keiko session for the clubs involved. A TV program called "Kashiwa Research Center" dedicated an episode to the rikishis at Kashiwa Junior Sumo Club, and here's a video of the episode:

 

Kashiwa Junior Sumo Club have sent quite a few members onto Ozumo, including Masunoyama, the first wrestler in the Heisei era to become a sekitori; and the recently joined Tebakari Toshiki, who won the Middle School Student Championships 3 years ago. Let's take a look at some of their biggest names in recent years.

 

Tebakari Toshiki (手計 富士紀)

Winner of the 25th National Middle School Student Championships back in 2014, and a Wanpaku semi-finalist, Toshiki and his younger brother Taiki are both big names in amateur sumo. Though Taiki is very skilful, Toshiki is the better of the two as he also has the build for sumo.

 

Kamei Hayato (亀井 颯人)

Primary School Yokozuna in 2014, Hayato, despite his size, is actually a very strong rikishi, and should never be underestimated in a bout. He's like Satoyama Yuki from the Future Monsters series, but better.

 

Sakamoto Hirokazu (坂本 博一, back row right in photo)

Eldest son of Tokitsukaze-oyakata, Hirokazu is a former Wanpaku finalist and Hakuho Cup winner, and a quarter-finalist at this year's National Middle School Championships. He helped Kashiwa Junior Sumo Club to win this year's National Club Championships by getting a more than crucial win over Mitaka Sumo Club's Hanafusa Kai in their semi-final match; and helped Kashiwadaini Junior High School win the team competition at this year's Middle School Championships.

 

Ito Yasuki (伊藤 寧, right in photo)

Yasuki is a semi-finalist at this year's National Middle School Student Championships, and seems to be getting better with age.

and a

 

Kanazawa Sorato (金澤 空大, back row middle in photo)

Yes, THAT Sorato. A 5-time national champion in wrestling, he got into sumo courtesy of Kinboshi Sumo Club, though his family soon had to move down to Chiba. However, this actually turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as the Kanazawa family settled down in Kashiwa of all places. That was one and a half years ago, and Sorato is now a 2-time Wanpaku participant, and with his club, a national champion in sumo.

 

Nishijima Yura (西島 悠来, left in photo)

Yura is a 4-time Hakuho Cup champion, and a Wanpaku semi-finalist. With his help, Sorato is able to safely qualify for the Wanpaku National Championships twice in a row. It is also because of him that Wakayama's Nakanishi Kaishin has not yet been able to win the Hakuho Cup, despite reaching 4 finals in a row.

 

Kanazawa Towa (金澤 永和)

Formerly Kinboshi Sumo Club's mascot, Towa has already won the Wanpaku city qualifiers in Kashiwa, and will be looking to compete at the Kokugikan Stadium again in a couple of years' time.

Edited November 15, 2017 by mikawa

[Katooshu 3,132]

Any thoughts on how the elder Tebakari wil do in ozumo? Do you know what type of high school results he got?

Edited November 16, 2017 by Katooshu

[mikawa 1,794]

16 hours ago, Katooshu said:

Any thoughts on how the elder Tebakari wil do in ozumo? Do you know what type of high school results he got?

Toshiki is mainly a belt specialist, who clearly has a lot of arm strength, but not quite as much leg strength. If he's able to get a good belt grip, then he's very strong, but not so much if he's not able to. His best high school result is at this year's Kokutai, where he was a quarter-finalist, but has won quite a few team titles with Saitama Sakae High School, where he is the team's anchor, being trusted to get that vital win in 2-2 situations (and that's with Naya Konosuke in the team as well).

However, he's not necessarily as good as Naya nowadays, but is a better wrestler than Kotokamatani, so I'll predict that he'll get to mid-to-upper Makushita.

[Katooshu 3,132]

Cool, thanks for the input. I've only started following the amateurs in the last year (with big help from your posts) and the Saitama Sakae guy who has stood out to me the most is Saito, although he lacks that major high school title that Naya got (though Naya is a year older).

As for Kotokamatani, it surprises me how underpowered he can seem given his physique. I know he did have some good amateur results and gave Shiroyama problems, but I haven't really been impressed so far. Still a young guy starting out though..

Edited November 16, 2017 by Katooshu

[mikawa 1,794]

Chris Gould recently travelled to Kashiwa and spoke with the Tebakari siblings' parents, who own a family restaurant:

 

[mikawa 1,794]

One of Our Own

November 2005. 8 year old Kamatani Masakatsu (鎌谷 将且) travels to Fukuoka to celebrate his birthday with his father Kotonowaka and his grandfather Kotozakura, as well as to witness his father's final basho. Already at 144cm and 60kg, Masakatsu claims that he wants to become as strong as his father and get to Yokozuna one day. Exactly 15 years on, Kotonowaka Junior is now back in Makuuchi after an injury, and will be hoping to continue his journey up the rankings chart.

 

[RRRrtz 4]

I recently find out that Kodama Hayato (児玉颯飛) is a member of the Kashiwa Club now. Maybe we could see him in Toyoda Rinnosuke's documentary.

[mikawa 1,794]

2 hours ago, RRRrtz said:

I recently find out that Kodama Hayato (児玉颯飛) is a member of the Kashiwa Club now. Maybe we could see him in Toyoda Rinnosuke's documentary.

Thanks for sharing the video. It seems that not only have Kashiwa recruited Kodama, but also his long-time rival Mashiko Takuya as well. And now with the addition of Toyoda Rinnosuke, their middle school cohort for the next couple of years is looking very strong, certainly strong enough to win some national titles.

[mikawa 1,794]

Chris Gould visited Kashiwa recently and made this quality documentary about the club. The man definitely has a way with words, be it English or Japanese: